No, I really don't. Major League Baseball is bad enough, now we have 'bonus baseball' every couple of years during Spring Training... which occurs in the winter... and the Boys of Summer really should be the "Boys of Spring, Summer, part of Fall, and a bit of Winter"?

No, I really don't. Major League Baseball is bad enough, now we have 'bonus baseball' every couple of years during Spring Training... which occurs in the winter... and the Boys of Summer really should be the "Boys of Spring, Summer, part of Fall, and a bit of Winter"?

God I hate Baseball.

You should probably fumigate for the gnomes that sneak into your house and tune your TV to baseball then.

No, I really don't. Major League Baseball is bad enough, now we have 'bonus baseball' every couple of years during Spring Training... which occurs in the winter... and the Boys of Summer really should be the "Boys of Spring, Summer, part of Fall, and a bit of Winter"?

God I hate Baseball.

You should probably fumigate for the gnomes that sneak into your house and tune your TV to baseball then.

No, I really don't. Major League Baseball is bad enough, now we have 'bonus baseball' every couple of years during Spring Training... which occurs in the winter... and the Boys of Summer really should be the "Boys of Spring, Summer, part of Fall, and a bit of Winter"?

WTF Indeed:In other news. It looks like the Mets got the trade of the new decade with the R.A. swap with the Blue Jays.

Yeah, Dickey looked like crap last night, but I wouldn't put too much stock in what is essentially s spring training game for him.David Wright, OTOH looked like the only American that gave a shiat out there. Watching Joe Mauer dumbfoundedly gaze at strike three TWICE with men on base was infuriating.

The Bestest:Yeah, Dickey looked like crap last night, but I wouldn't put too much stock in what is essentially s spring training game for him.David Wright, OTOH looked like the only American that gave a shiat out there. Watching Joe Mauer dumbfoundedly gaze at strike three TWICE with men on base was infuriating.

In four years, Team USA should consist of only guys who ask to be on the team. What pisses me off is that guys like Verlander and Price aren't on the team.

azmoviez:I'm pissed that Team Mexico keeps over using Sergio Romo. Is it the players choice to participate or can the team block it?

Teams can't outright forbid players from competing, but they can.. suggest very strongly that they don't.

There are strict pitcher protections in place though. Pitching more than 30 is an automatic 1 day rest, pitching two days in a row is an automatic rest and in the first round, no pitcher can pitch more than 65.

The Bestest:azmoviez: I'm pissed that Team Mexico keeps over using Sergio Romo. Is it the players choice to participate or can the team block it?

Teams can't outright forbid players from competing, but they can.. suggest very strongly that they don't.

There are strict pitcher protections in place though. Pitching more than 30 is an automatic 1 day rest, pitching two days in a row is an automatic rest and in the first round, no pitcher can pitch more than 65.

I know. That's why Team Mexico is keeping Romo just under 30. Bastardos! I'd be better with this if they forced Adrian Gonzalez to match that daily pitch count.

I loathe baseball, but this is the one thing that I might passively watch, but it's getting so very little coverage. And major league baseball has a lot of influence with the number of pitches and who is playing. When the detroit tigers have more pull than the national team, the event is not quite there yet.

DemoKnite:I loathe baseball, but this is the one thing that I might passively watch, but it's getting so very little coverage. And major league baseball has a lot of influence with the number of pitches and who is playing. When the detroit tigers have more pull than the national team, the event is not quite there yet.

The Bestest:WTF Indeed: In other news. It looks like the Mets got the trade of the new decade with the R.A. swap with the Blue Jays.

Yeah, Dickey looked like crap last night, but I wouldn't put too much stock in what is essentially s spring training game for him.David Wright, OTOH looked like the only American that gave a shiat out there. Watching Joe Mauer dumbfoundedly gaze at strike three TWICE with men on base was infuriating.

Braun actually tried to look like he gave a shiat as well, but didn't do much. On the bright side, the way Gallardo pitched last night is a good sign for my Brewers.

If Canada beats Mexico this afternoon and the United States beats Italy tonight, then Italy and the winner of Sunday's U.S.-Canada game both advance to the second round of the World Baseball Classic in Miami. But if Mexico beats Canada, then the U.S. not only must beat Italy and Canada, it must do so by a certain amount of runs. Or the U.S. could lose to Italy as long as Mexico loses to Canada and Canada loses to the U.S. by enough runs and ... wait, my head hurts.

WTF Indeed:In four years, Team USA should consist of only guys who ask to be on the team. What pisses me off is that guys like Verlander and Price aren't on the team.

Team USA's watered down enough already. I mean, how the hell does Derek Holland get on the national team? He's the third guy in the RANGERS rotation. He shouldn't be the third guy in America's. It was just absolute hell listening to the MLB Network analysts just slobber the USA's knob all the time. They all but awarded the WBC to the US by fiat and completely dismissed Japan- and the entire Asian contingent, really- because they lacked any players from MLB this year. 'We're America! Look how strong our lineup is! It's our time!'

And so they never foresaw any possibility of getting punked by, say, Mexico in the very first game. And now we have 2-0 Italy, which is led by Anthony Rizzo, Drew Butera and Nick Punto, has already guaranteed that either Canada, Mexico or the US will be sent into the 2017 qualifiers by smacking the other two silly and whom we pretty much completely ignored, in a do-or-die.

The Bestest:azmoviez: I'm pissed that Team Mexico keeps over using Sergio Romo. Is it the players choice to participate or can the team block it?

Teams can't outright forbid players from competing, but they can.. suggest very strongly that they don't.

There are strict pitcher protections in place though. Pitching more than 30 is an automatic 1 day rest, pitching two days in a row is an automatic rest and in the first round, no pitcher can pitch more than 65.

There's no way the Giants were going to tell their players not to participate, they're hosting the semifinal and finals. That's why there are 11 players in this tournament, including Romo, Sandoval, Scutaro, Vogolsong and Affeldt(?!?).

drunk_bouncnbaloruber:There's no way the Giants were going to tell their players not to participate, they're hosting the semifinal and finals. That's why there are 11 players in this tournament, including Romo, Sandoval, Scutaro, Vogolsong and Affeldt(?!?).

I actually looked, and all 30 clubs do have someone represented. (Brewers have the most players, Cubs the least.) It was pretty much case-by-case. Some players had injury concerns, some others pulled out because they're actually trying to win or defend a spot on the club. Some are here because they're auditioning for one. What ended up happening is the players that did pull out absolutely crippled the American pitching staff. The US could have had Justin Verlander, David Price, Clayton Kershaw and Mark Buehrle going in the bullpen; instead, we have R.A. Dickey, Ryan Vogelsong, Derek Holland and Ross Detwiler. (We never did find a fifth starter; all the other teams did.)

See, this points to a larger problem the US has when putting national teams together. We don't give a fark, or at least, we give far less of a fark than our opponents do. We get so caught up in self-satisfied flag-waving that we half-ass it and, instead of sending our A teams, we far too often send B and even C teams made up of whoever feels like going and whoever the clubs don't hold back for injury concerns, and it just totally kneecaps us. And then we're surprised when we lose to someone we have no business losing to. And what happens when we do lose? "Who cares, this doesn't matter anyway." And we just give up on it entirely. If we aren't winning the whole thing or making the final, we stop caring.

And that's why we got beat by Mexico. Mexico gave a fark and we didn't.

WTF Indeed:In four years, Team USA should consist of only guys who ask to be on the team. What pisses me off is that guys like Verlander and Price aren't on the team

It's a whole bunch of guys that turned it down. I'm pretty sure both Peavy and Sale were asked and didn't go, as did most of the other top starters. Hence why a lot of the pitching staff is schmoes and someone like Willie Bloomquist is actually on the team.

Baseball should return to the Olympics, but only amateurs should be eligible to participate. That goes for all Olympic sports, which became professionalized after American basketball fans complained because the USA wasn't winning every game by 100 points as God intended.

And thank you for proving my point from five posts above you. We get into this vicious cycle where we don't care enough to send our best, we lose, we go 'who cares' and respond by sending even worse guys next time. You want the A team out there? Start caring and demand the A team be sent. The other teams are sending theirs.

Fun fact: if the US comes in last in the group, they'll have to go through qualifiers next time. You know when they hold the qualifiers? September and November. Good luck sending a team good enough to get the qualification spot back at that time of year.

Baseball should return to the Olympics, but only amateurs should be eligible to participate. That goes for all Olympic sports, which became professionalized after American basketball fans complained because the USA wasn't winning every game by 100 points as God intended.

WBC: what baseball was forced to do after the Olympics told them to GTFO if they weren't going to send them any decent players because they'd had about enough of explaining to the host nations what exactly baseball was.

WBC: what baseball was forced to do after the Olympics told them to GTFO if they weren't going to send them any decent players because they'd had about enough of explaining to the host nations what exactly baseball was.

And yet, we were able to win Olympic gold in baseball sending a bunch of amateurs (at the time)

Canada is spanking Mexico early, 4-0 in the 1st. Which means if the US doesn't beat Italy (and given that Italy's already beaten Canada and Mexico, that is no given), they face a very real risk of being shunted into 2017 qualifiers. You think the team's watered down now? Try cobbling one together to defend the US's right to even PLAY in the WBC, in September 2017, in the middle of a pennant race. Think about that potential humiliation, finding yourself trying to scrounge up the talent needed to defeat the likes of Nicaragua or the Czech Republic.

A Fark Handle:DemoKnite: I loathe baseball, but this is the one thing that I might passively watch, but it's getting so very little coverage. And major league baseball has a lot of influence with the number of pitches and who is playing. When the detroit tigers have more pull than the national team, the event is not quite there yet.

the detroit tigers pay much better.

So does Manchester United, but players still play for the national team. Apples to oranges in a way, sure. The incentives arent there for the WBC. It needs a major sponsor and network.

Baseball should return to the Olympics, but only amateurs should be eligible to participate. That goes for all Olympic sports, which became professionalized after American basketball fans complained because the USA wasn't winning every game by 100 points as God intended.

In real life, the USA voted against including professional basketball players in the Olympics.

Gosling:DemoKnite: So does Manchester United, but players still play for the national team. Apples to oranges in a way, sure. The incentives arent there for the WBC. It needs a major sponsor and network.

MLB Network isn't a network?

No, not in the sense that it's used in the US. For example the NCAA basketball tournament is more prestigious than the NIT because "March Madness" is flagshipped on CBS. The WBC could easily be on the ESPN/ABC package or even the NBC/NBC Sports package. Its not even on Univisión.

DemoKnite:Gosling: DemoKnite: So does Manchester United, but players still play for the national team. Apples to oranges in a way, sure. The incentives arent there for the WBC. It needs a major sponsor and network.

MLB Network isn't a network?

No, not in the sense that it's used in the US. For example the NCAA basketball tournament is more prestigious than the NIT because "March Madness" is flagshipped on CBS. The WBC could easily be on the ESPN/ABC package or even the NBC/NBC Sports package. Its not even on Univisión.

March Madness is more prestigious because it has the best teams, not the crap teams. In turn that's why it's on cbs.

Baseball should return to the Olympics, but only amateurs should be eligible to participate. That goes for all Olympic sports, which became professionalized after American basketball fans complained because the USA wasn't winning every game by 100 points as God intended.

I know us Canadians didn't like the way Russia defined "amateur".

That was the Soviet Union, which no longer exists. Russians and Ukrainians play in the NHL now. (Of course, after typing that, I realized that you're not saying it does.)

Yes, the USSR won seven of nine gold medals in Ice Hockey between 1956 and 1988, but remember who won the other two? The United States (plus two silver). Sweden was a perpetual runner-up. Both those teams succeeded with amateur players. while Canada won nothing between 1972 and 1988. It's problems ran deeper than disputes over amateur status. The same was true, to a lesser extent, of American basketball. By blaming the USSR's 30-year-old "amateurs", we didn't realize that the quality of American coaching was slipping, and/or the rest of the world was catching up.

Bippal:DemoKnite: Gosling: DemoKnite: So does Manchester United, but players still play for the national team. Apples to oranges in a way, sure. The incentives arent there for the WBC. It needs a major sponsor and network.

MLB Network isn't a network?

No, not in the sense that it's used in the US. For example the NCAA basketball tournament is more prestigious than the NIT because "March Madness" is flagshipped on CBS. The WBC could easily be on the ESPN/ABC package or even the NBC/NBC Sports package. Its not even on Univisión.

March Madness is more prestigious because it has the best teams, not the crap teams. In turn that's why it's on cbs.

I look at that way. It is like a question of why the crap bowls in college football don't have the prestige of the BCS bowls?

Baseball should return to the Olympics, but only amateurs should be eligible to participate. That goes for all Olympic sports, which became professionalized after American basketball fans complained because the USA wasn't winning every game by 100 points as God intended.

I know us Canadians didn't like the way Russia defined "amateur".

That was the Soviet Union, which no longer exists. Russians and Ukrainians play in the NHL now. (Of course, after typing that, I realized that you're not saying it does.)

Yes, the USSR won seven of nine gold medals in Ice Hockey between 1956 and 1988, but remember who won the other two? The United States (plus two silver). Sweden was a perpetual runner-up. Both those teams succeeded with amateur players. while Canada won nothing between 1972 and 1988. It's problems ran deeper than disputes over amateur status. The same was true, to a lesser extent, of American basketball. By blaming the USSR's 30-year-old "amateurs", we didn't realize that the quality of American coaching was slipping, and/or the rest of the world was catching up.

Having pros in Olympic Basketball didn't help the US in 2004. having a cohesive team is as important as anything.

Baseball should return to the Olympics, but only amateurs should be eligible to participate. That goes for all Olympic sports, which became professionalized after American basketball fans complained because the USA wasn't winning every game by 100 points as God intended.

In real life, the USA voted against including professional basketball players in the Olympics.

I was referring to fans, not owners. The millionaire class that runs the United States Olympic Committee, of whom professional sports team owners are a major component, didn't want their stars risking injury and playing for peanuts in the Olympics.

The -primary- purpose of the WBC is to expand baseball's (as a sport) global reach (as in beyond North America and the far east). It -is- working (the WBC has raised the profiles of Dutch, Korean and Taiwanese baseball and is getting roots down in Italy, Australia and Spain). The WBC is a HUGE deal in Japan, Korea and Cuba. the problem in the US, as discussed, is mainly the timing which interferes too much with the MLB preseason.